Modern inventory systems, such as those in mail order warehouses, supply chain distribution centers, airport luggage systems, and custom-order manufacturing facilities, face significant challenges in responding to requests for inventory items. As inventory systems grow, the challenges of simultaneously completing a large number of packing, storing, and other inventory-related tasks become non-trivial. In inventory systems tasked with responding to large numbers of diverse inventory requests, inefficient utilization of system resources, including space, equipment, and manpower, can result in lower throughput, unacceptably long response times, an ever-increasing backlog of unfinished tasks, and, in general, poor system performance. Additionally, expanding or reducing the size or capabilities of many inventory systems requires significant changes to existing infrastructure and equipment. As a result, the cost of incremental changes to capacity or functionality may be prohibitively expensive, limiting the ability of the system to accommodate fluctuations in system throughput.
Conventional methods of management of containers for routing inventory in an inventory system can include, for example, labeling containers; filling containers based on a container label; transporting the containers through the inventory system via conveyors, pallet movers, and by hand; storing containers; and loading containers for transit. Along the way, containers might be mislabeled, misplaced, or lost; labels might be misread, go unnoticed, or be damaged; and operators may inadvertently err in packing or directing containers.